


Falling

by Annuska



Series: Sonadow Week 2019 [1]
Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-10-05 18:30:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17330219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annuska/pseuds/Annuska
Summary: Sonic has some rambling thoughts about working with Shadow.





	Falling

“Last one, Shad! Let’s go!” **  
**

He anticipated Shadow’s running leap with timed precision, catching the sole of his shoe and launching Shadow into a graceful leap over his head. Sonic shook the remnant ash off his gloves with a grimace, turning in time to see the final Egg Mech explode in a show of metal rain and smoke. He watched Shadow land on one foot, catching himself with his knee, scanning the perimeter before rising.

“So if that’s one for us both, I beat you by one,” Sonic grinned, dusting his hands off as he approached Shadow. “Nice spin on that jump, though. Also, your shoes are  _ashy_.”

“No.” Shadow turned around, clenched fist lifted. He opened his palm to reveal a tiny device—a transmitter, Sonic believed, if he was remembered Tails’ description correctly—before dropping it to the ground and crushing it underfoot. “We’re still tied.”

Sonic threw his head back and groaned. “Again!” He missed Shadow’s subtle smirk, the slightest pulling at the corner of his mouth, right as he turned back to face his rival again. “You know what your problem is? You’re sneaky.”

“I am not,” Shadow said flatly, brushing some stray circuitry off his arm. “That’s simply what taking care of things looks like when you aren’t showing off.”

“Man, whatever.” Sonic rolled his eyes, and opened his mouth to argue back—but decided against it, and grinned instead. “You know I’m going to beat you one of these days. Maybe I’ve been going easy on you.” He caught Shadow’s eye roll, but pretended he hadn’t seen as he stretched his arms in an arch over his head. “Let’s get whatever’s left of this transmitter back to Tails.”

“I’ll pass, thanks.” Shadow leaned down, sifting through extraneous bits and pieces before finding the broken chip they were looking for. He handed it to Sonic. “I have better things to do than race you back.”

Sonic frowned, but only momentarily. He tried to disguise the look with a laugh. “Yeah, you’re just afraid I’ll beat you again.”

“You did not—”

“Nah, look, we’ll just walk. C’mon.” Sonic put his hands behind his head and took a few paces forward before pausing and looking back over his shoulder. “Let’s go, hot shot.”

Shadow’s reluctant sigh put a smile on Sonic’s face, and he held it even as the two fell into pace together. He heard Shadow mumble  _I think_  you’re  _the hot shot around here_ , and turned his head to face him—and the two of them starting laughing, quietly and (in Shadow’s case) reserved at first, until they were both stopped in the middle of the forest trying to get the last of their giggles out.

The laughter petered out and they both caught their breath and wordlessly continued on. It was quiet between them for a while—Sonic lost track of the time, feeling at ease in a rare moment of focus, without a thousand strings of thought tied up in his head. He enjoyed the sound of his and Shadow’s shoes against the compact earth, an occassional snap of a twig; the warm sun breaking through the canopy of leaves, casting bright yellow light contrasting sharply with leaf-shaped shade; the quiet companionship, and the one thread of thought that did occupy his mind regarding said companionship.

“Hey, Shadow,” he said at last, barely above a whisper as if he thought his voice would shatter the world around them otherwise. “Remember what you told me the, what was it, third? Time we met up? On, uh, the ARK?”

Shadow was quiet, but it was a quiet that Sonic recognized.

“No, no, don’t get worked up over it if you can’t. You just said that—I can’t remember how you said it, something about us not just looking alike. I think you were right.” Sonic looked over at Shadow, caught his look, and laughed. “‘Looking alike’ was used real loosely, I know. But I think we are pretty alike.”

“How’s that?”

“For one, I’m not the only one who shows off, my dude. You should see yourself sometimes! Don’t get me wrong, I’m athletic and all too, but sometimes…” Sometimes what, Sonic? Sometimes Shadow was more elegant, more graceful, but the thought of saying it aloud made Sonic… nervous. “You’ve just got a different flare, I guess.”

Shadow opened his mouth then closed it, and his expression shifted slightly. “Fair enough.”

“And you act like you don’t care, but you totally do.” Before Shadow could reply, Sonic lifted his finger to stop him. “Yeah, yeah, I know, I’m one to talk. Which just makes it even truer that we’re similar. Even though we’re… pretty different, too. But maybe not that much. Like, sometimes… you don’t realize how much people care about you.”

This time, Sonic allowed Shadow to respond—but the black hedgehog seemed stuck between two potential questions.

“Are you saying there’s times you don’t realize it, either? With all the people you’re surrounded with— _constantly_?”

Sonic shifted his weight from one foot to the other, back and forth a few times. “I’m not really—I’m, uh…” Where had that even  _come_  from?

“Fine, different question. Are you saying…  _you_  care about me?”

By now, Shadow had stopped walking, and stood facing Sonic at point blank. Sonic had stopped shifting his weight, and had resorted to stretching his legs, finding it difficult to meet Shadow in the eye. “I care about tons of people, dude,” he said quickly, shrugging before he leapt up to grab onto an overhead branch, propelling himself to the next one before dropping back down. He started walking backwards as Shadow turned back toward him. “Why wouldn’t I care about you, too?”

“Hm,” was all Shadow said. He followed Sonic, eyeing him not so much intensely, but with… a very deep focus. Sonic leapt up again, swinging backward this time to avoid an overgrown root rising out of the ground. Shadow simply walked around it.

This time, Sonic waited for Shadow, and as they met up he faced forward again and resumed his walking pace. “All I’m saying is, we make a pretty good team.” He flashed Shadow a grin—but he didn’t expect Shadow to flash one back, and suddenly, he got the urge to speed up again.

“I’ll give you that,” Shadow said, and this time, he let Sonic see the slight smirk tug at the corner of his mouth. “Even if you are just a bit slower.”

“Slower?” Sonic stopped in his tracks, staring after Shadow. He felt heat rising to his face, but it wasn’t anger. He stood there a moment, threads of thoughts beginning to tangle into each other before he finally called,  _Last one to Tails’s workshop is a faker!_  and sped past Shadow.

He knew Shadow would catch up to him, and they’d argue about who had made it first, but for now, the cool wind on his face gave him a reprieve from all the thoughts in his head—even the ones about his elegant, graceful rival.

**Author's Note:**

> Day 1 for sonadow-week at Tumblr!
> 
> Prompt: competition/teamwork


End file.
